Archive for June, 2008

The FTSE closed up 96 points today at 5,625.9, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 41 points at 9,145.8.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up nearly 80 points at 11,426, whilst the S&P500 was up almost 10 points at 1,288, and the Nasdaq up 9 points at 2,324.58. This despite falling on opening.

Back here in London, it was the oil heavyweights and miners that helped the FTSE. With oil at over US$143 bbl, BP closed up 18p at 583.25p, RD Shell up 58p at 2,020, and BG Group up 56p at 1,307p. Tullow Oil, however, closed down 20p at 955p after some profit taking.  Oil services group Wood Group closed up nearly 25p at 494.5p.

On to the miners, where metal prices were up and so were the bigger miners.  Also, reports that billionaire businessman Lakshmi Mittal is sniffing with intent on getting in to the takeover battle for Rio Tinto gained strength. Press said that Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal, and main shareholder, is supposed to be very keen to gain some control and secure larger supplies of iron ore.  This all helped Rio, who closed up 166p at 6,009, whilst peers followed the rise with smiles, as Anglo closed up 130p at 3,526, Xstrata up 90p at 4,024p, and BHP up 45p at 1,920.

On to the banks, where more pressure was on them again. Barclays closed down 6.5p at 291.5p, Lloyds TSB down 6.25p at just shy of 311p, HBOS down 2.5p at 276p, and RBS down almost 3p at 215p.  MOre write-downs to come, is the belief.
On to telecoms/communications, where Vodafone closed up almost 7.5p at 149.15p after it said of the launch of a music platform on the web with MySpace. Peers were also up, with Cable & Wireless up 3.4p at 150.8 after saying it has made a 180p per share improved cash offer for Thus Group, which valued Thus at £329m. Thus said the improved offer is “worthy of consideration”, which means they like it.  Or the shareholders in the board do, at least.

ICAP, the inter-broker dealer closed up 12.5p at 542p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’, but lowered its target by 39p toi 650p.

On to media, where ITV took a bit of a pasting, closing down 2.8p at 44.7p after investors decided that the OFT refreal to the UK Competition Commission for its planned JV with BBC & C4 for the video-on-demand service.  Trinity Mirror’s profit warning didn’t do the media sector any favours, either.  The Daily Mirror publisher said that a 10% reduction in its profits this year was likely due to ‘difficult trading conditions’, and warned for the future by saying it was ‘cautious’, prompting Cazenove to downgrade the publisher to ‘underperform’ from ‘in-line’, causing the shares to close down 42.5p at 109p. Peers were effected, with Johnston Press closing down 5p at 52p, and Daily Mail & General Trust closing down 16p at jiust shy of 314p.

Southern Cross Healthcare closed down 183p to 130p after the care-home provider said it is unlikely to meet its own forecasts for bed occupancy rates and has had to renegotiate its loan terms.

Grainger closed up over 13p at 215p after Regis Group confirmed it was sniffing, but not firmly sniffing.  Just yet.

Good morning all

Quietish day but good direction in GOLD which showed the way for the EURUSD and USDCHF. The JPY’s moved too early for an exact low risk entry point but overall a good day for those who traded..

I would like to officially welcome Hemal onto the MBC and we look forward to hearing his views each morning.

Have a good afternoon.

Novice strategy school at 2pm.

Dan 

09:26:21 {hemal<EN>} yes half closed for 40 pips

10:13:55 {Durti_Ca$h<EN>} I’LL TAKE HALF PROFIT AT .30 !! EURUSD THEN MOVE STOP ON OTHER HALF TO B/E +5 !

10:28:59 {Jeremy_W} Took 12 on Swissy. missed my target of 20 by 2. Had been in the trade for a long time. It was mostly in the red so very happy to pull a few positve pips….

10:36:56 {Durti_Ca$h<EN>} TAKING 25 PIPS OFF THE TABLE IN EURO WITH 1/2 POSITION <<CaChing>>

10:38:40 {chris<EN>} taken 1/2 on euro +20

10:40:38 {gooner1<EN>} 12points Euro

10:55:46 {Jeremy_W} So far since I have joined Market Bytes I have a 60% success rate with an average win of 25 pips and an average loss of 13. Definatley room for improvement for me but having fun.

11:28:25 {Jono<EN>} agreed hemal - I have my alert set for 25

11:33:00 {Jono<EN>} lol - out for +1 on my stop

11:35:56 {Jono<EN>} I was 2 pips away from my limit exit

11:37:49 {Nick<EN>} eur/usd +12

11:37:51 {Jeremy_W} +13 swissy

11:37:51 {slinger} me EUR/USD.

11:37:55 {Jun<JA>} 18 on EURUSD

11:37:56 {slinger} 40.

11:37:56 {Durti_Ca$h<EN>} JUST A LITTLE 25 EURUSD !

0511:38:02 {Simon<EN>} STILL IN EUR/USD!

11:38:04 {slinger} Standard.

11:38:10 {Chris_M_W<EN>} eur usd +20

11:38:12 {slinger} 10

11:38:13 {gooner1<EN>} 12 euro b/e ftse

11:38:23 {Chris..<EN>} EU +6 and +14

11:38:23 {claudette<EN>} euro/usd 11

11:38:58 {vikki<EN>} eur usd 20 but accidentally put in on a demo doh!!

11:39:02 {Peter_W<EN>} Missed the E/$ trade due to school run, but like the new hour

11:39:33 {Durti_Ca$h<EN>} 25 ON HALF !

11:39:40 {hemal<EN>} 65 pips on gold,

11:39:50 {hemal<EN>} 25 on half

0511:39:50 {chris<EN>} still got 1/2 in euro. sl break even. 20 on half

11:40:04 {Durti_Ca$h<EN>} +25 ON HALF POSITION EURUSD

11:40:11 {Kevin_West<EN>} 20 usd/chf short

11:40:15 {Simon<EN>} BEST TRADE OF THE DAY HEMAL - WELL DONE!

11:40:16 {hemal<EN>} 3 pips locked in on Eur

11:40:24 {Jun<JA>} 30 in EURJPY]

11:40:32 {Durti_Ca$h<EN>} WELL DONE HEMAL AND LOBSTER. GOOD TRADE

0511:40:34 {W€$T¥<EN>} + 6 EURUSD

11:41:17 {Pauly<EN>} 25 ON DAX!

11:41:24 {Johnh<EN>} 30 0n eur dollar

The FTSE was up 11 points this morning at 5,541, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 5 points at 9,100.

Over the pond on Friday the DJI closed down nearly 107 points at 11,346.51, which is the lowest level in 21 months, down 20% from its high of October last year.  The S&P500 closed down nearly 5 points at 1,278.38, whilst the Nasdaq down nearly 6 points at 2,315.63, with all three main indicies down 3% on the week.

In the Far East this morning, the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 63 points at 13,481.38, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down over 10 points at 22,031 by lunchtime.

With the weaker dollar the oil price was up, not at nearly US$143.50 bbl. This helped the oil heavyweights, with BP up 4.5p at 570p, RD Shell up 13p at 2,028, and BG Group up 11p at 1,262p.

The weaker dollar also helped metal prices.  Anglo was up nearly 70p at 3,466p, Anto up 13p at 668p, Xstrata was up 85p at 4,019, and Rio was up 125p at 5,968p after news that Lakshmi Mittal are also apprenelty entering in to the bidding war for the company.  Well, not bidding war, but there is definitely a takeover aimed at by more than one party now.

Power generator Drax Group was up 8p at 745p after saying its full-year results will be slightly higher than recent market consensus. The company added that it expects to report EBITDA above the £400m analyst consensus.

ICAP, the inter broker dealer, was up 13p at 543p after a Merrill Lynch upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’, adding a 650p target, down from 689p.

Vodafone was 3.3 stronger at 145 after it said it launched a music platform on the web with MySpace.

Southern Cross Healthcare fell 218p to 95p - a 70% fall - after saying that it is unlikely to meet its forecasts for bed occupancy rates, blaming local authorities not getting their funding.  It also added that it is trying to sort out a later repaymnet date on its £46m loan.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was down a penny to 61p after weekend [press said they wanted to raise £500m.

WPP, the advertising group, was down 9p at 475p after weekend press reports that it may offer more than £1 bln for Taylor Nelson Sofres, which is also set to merge with Germnay’s GfK.

Trinity Mirror was down 37p at 114p after saying that its full-year profits will be 10% lower, adding that the outlook isn’t great.  Well, they said ‘uncertain’, but that means poor, really.  A Cazenove downgrade to ‘underperform’ from ‘in-line’ followed. Staying with media, ITV was down 1.4p at 46.1p too.

The FTSE closed up 11.7 points at 5,529.9, about 23 points off the session high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 2.5 points at 9,104.8.  It was the miners and oil heavyweights that helped today.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 55 points at 11,398.59, whilst the S&P500 was down a point at 1,282, and the Nasdaq down 10 points at 2,311.

As the dollar weekened further, oil hit US$142 bbl. This oil price did help the London oil heavyweights, though.

Here in London it was those oil heavyweights that helped the FTSE.  RD Shell closed up 27p at 1,962, BG Group up 53p at 1,251, Tullow Oil up 49p at 975p, and cairn Enregy up 121p at 3,207p after a Cazenove upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘in-line’. Other oil stocks did well too, with Premier Oil up 81 pence at 1,609, and JKX Oil & Gas up 27.5p at 521.5p.

On to the miners, where Kazakhmys closed up 54p at 1,609p after a Deutsche Bank upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and 19-quid target, whilst Lonmin closed up 129p at 3,288p, BHP up 67p at 1,875, and ENRC up 43p at 1,340p.

On to banks, where Barclays closed down nearly 6p at 298p as rumours that the bank’s £4.5 bln cash input from Qatar may not be enough.  Bradford & Bingley closed down nearly 17p at 63.25p after news that Resolution has withdrawn its alternate funding proposals due to management resistance. The proposal was rejected by B&B on Tuesday.

Food retailers were down after Carrefour, the French supermarket giant said that it had lowered its profit estimates. Tesco closed down 4.2p at 360.5 afterr its AGM today, whilst Sainsburys was down over 6p at just shy of 309p, and Morrisons closed down nearly 6p at 262.5p.

BAE Systems closed up 9p at 427.5p as investors liked the news that outgoing chief executive Mike Turner will be replaced from within as COO Ian King will take the chair from 1st September.

On to the housebuilders, where news from Berkeley Group said of higher full-year pre-tax profits on stronger revenues, and also that it is confident of maintaining its operating performance through this next year.  This gave the sahres and sector a well accepted boost, with Berkeley Group closed up 31p at 694p, Taylor Wimpey up 7p at 62p and Bellway Home closed up 27p at 470.25p.

Plumbing group Wolseley closed down 16p at 388p after an ABN Amro downgrade to ’sell’ from ‘hold’ after news of poor results from U.S. housebuilder KB Homes.

Media giant Thomson Reuters closed down 42p at 1,317 after Collins Stewart reiterated its ’sell’ stance and lowered its target to 1,265p from 1,420p.

WSP Group closed down 21p at 529p on profit taking after a trading update said things were in-line with expectations.

BBA Aviation closed down 2.5p at 128p after announcing that the last copuple of mon ths trading was in-line with expectations, but Panmure Gordon reiterated its ’sel’ stance and 120p target.

On to transport, where National Express closed up 24.5p at 941.5p after an upbeat statement, whilst Stagecoach closed up 8p at 276.25p, and Firstgroup up 18.5p at 522.5p.

Tech firm ARM Holdings closed up 2.5p at 87.5p after a Credit Suisse upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’, citing the new smartphone and 3G are doing very well because it believes the group is the safest way to play these themes.

Good morning all

Its very early on using this new template but what a template it is!!! Thanks for the emails saying how happy you are with the new setup…lots of PIPS to come i feel!!!

Well done this week…Enjoy the Pimp show at 1.20pm.

Dan

08:03:35 {gooner1} Elliot wave suggests end of wave 3 9000,wave 5 7700, scary.

08:42:07 {Bigboy} Morgan Stanley could be right saying crude will be at $150 by 4th July - Dow 10,000!!!

08:53:02 {Pauly} EURJPY… 20MA CROSSED THE 960 AND 60 CLOSE TO CROSSING THE 960 ALSO. WANT TO SEE THE 10CCI POWER ABOVE THE ZERO,WHICH WILL TAKE PRICE BACK NEAR 960, WANT THE 63 TO HOLD THE SERON LINE AND ENTER WHEN THE 10 CROSSES BACK BELOW ZERO. THAT IS WHAT I AM CURRENTLY WATCHING FOR!

09:08:41 {Peter_W} Her is part of a comment on recent FED meeting

09:09:51 {cako<EN>} eurjpy

09:17:19 {bob} in at 44

09:18:51 {barry} Made 40 on euro/y yesterday

09:22:43 {Rockdrive} 150 here we come

09:26:13 {bob} dan I think I am now a confirmed scalper + 4

$ yen + 7 £ $

09:26:41 {Jeremy_W<EN>} Dan we will be targeting 2000 pips a week soon just so we can fill the car

09:26:57 {Christoffi} +35 GOLD

09:29:03 {alexjf<EN>} exited 50 points on crude

09:31:12 {bob} the 5 min chart has netted me 76 pips this so I am pretty happy

09:32:53 {Christoffi} 50 pips up on GOLD

09:33:37 {hemal} long on gold from 913

09:34:53 {Jeremy_W<EN>} out of EJ for 20 nice looking pips

09:35:44 {William} weetapips would be better!

09:46:24 {Benihana<EN>} 30+ for me on EJ, thanks Pauly, no peanut butter and jelly sandwich for me today

09:52:57 {Larry} 7-11

09:54:29 {gooner1} A man laughing his head off.

10:05:19 {Christoffi} I am still in GOLD

10:05:29 {Christoffi} locked 60 pips

10:05:31 {hemal} out with 60 pips, will lok to re enter at lower levels

10:10:44 {Jeremy_W<EN>} I closed my EJ for 20 pips but my stop was only 16 so I can’t complain about that.

10:11:47 {cako<EN>} took 14 pips

10:47:35 {Durti_Ca$h} CLOSING $CHF +61 $JPY +67 !

10:49:57 {gooner1} Well done Dan.

10:50:08 {chris} $chf 42

10:50:32 {Larry} Thanks Dan! And All!

10:50:35 {hemal} 60 on gold and back in

10:50:37 {William} Thanks, Dan and see you later. -21

10:50:40 {Christoffi} banked 80 pips GOLD

10:50:50 {Jeremy_W<EN>} +20

10:50:50 {Mike} Still on paper +34 today

10:50:53 {rocwell} a modest 100 pips this week

10:50:54 {barry} 50 this am

10:51:00 {gooner1} 25 pips on FTSE

10:51:18 {peterjones887<FR>} about 100on Gy short

10:51:22 {Jun<JA>} +20 on EURJPY

10:51:23 {Durti_Ca$h} BIT GUTTED I DIN’T HOLD CABLE FOR 30

10:51:26 {Stefan<EN>} EURJPY +39 CU later thanks

10:51:28 {Simon} GOLD 180 YESTERDAY … 68 TODAY STILL IN … 14 EUR/USD!

10:51:28 {Geoff} 174 for week

10:51:34 {bob} 76 for the week dan all useing the the 5min for entry thanks awaiting the pimp

10:51:47 {chris} 160 pips for the week, so pleased with that

10:52:12 {Durti_Ca$h} GOOD STUFF BOB. LETS SEE IF THE PIMP CAN GET YOU UPTO 100 !!

10:52:16 {Chris..} GU+42 UJ +40 on1/2 still open

10:52:23 {barry} 200 for the week

10:52:23 {Jeremy_W<EN>} 111 for the week

10:52:24 {vikki} 130 for week so far, no trades today!

, just got back from school run, bye all……….

10:52:42 {Durti_Ca$h} GO VIKKI. VERY GOOD UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES !

10:52:46 {Simon} FANTASTIC RESULTS - WELL DONE EVERYONE!

10:52:47 {Billy_P<EN>} cant make it for pimp show see you monday up 377 for month still learning hope for better next month

10:53:14 {vikki} need to make my 200 target

10:53:24 {Durti_Ca$h} YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON YOUR PIMP VIK !!

10:53:40 {matte} 80 for the week. Missed the entries today, but starting to see them clearer. Cheers all.

10:53:45 {Christoffi} heading towards the 500pips for the weak

10:56:11 {Durti_Ca$h} ABOUT 630-640 SO FAR. BIT QUIET IN MORNINGS. MOSTLY CRUDE AND GOLD !

10:55:49 {Gareth} 456 CLEAR AFTER 24 LOSS EARLIER IN WEEK!

10:55:49 {john} is that 7k D C?

10:56:37 {Pauly} DAX, EUR, FTSE AND EURJPY TRADED THIS WEEK 390 PIPS

10:56:38 {Simon} APPROX 400 & STILL IN 2!

The FTSE was down about 40 poiints at 5,478 this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 90 points at 9,017.

last night over the pond the DJI closed down 358.41 points at 11,453.42, whislt the S&P500 closed down 38.82 at 1,283.15, and he Nasdaq down 79.89 points at 2,321.37.  All down at least 3% each. Feeling and word around was that there will be bad news from the financial sector.  Goldman Sachs had downgraded the car and tech sectors too, we can’t forget.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 300 points at 13,525.72 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down just over 400 points by lunchtime chow time.

On to oil, where in Asian trade the price of the black stuff was over US$139 bbl, and had actually traded thru’ the $140 bbl level during the session.  This wasn’t helped by OPEC’s statement that it reckons oil coiuld be $150 to $170 bbl this summer.

Here in London this monring, the oil heavyweights were up as a result of the oil price.  BP was up 6p at 576p, RD Shell up 14p at 1,999, BG Group up 13p at 1,211, Tullow Oil up 22p at 948p, and Cairn Energy up 109p at 3,195, with Cairn also helped by a Cazenove upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘in-line’.

On to mining, where Kazakhmys was up 25p at 1,580, helped by a Deutche Bank upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and 9-quid target, up 10%.  Peers were stronger too, with Anto up 14p at 662p, Vedanta up 35p at 2,220, Xstrata up 60p at 3,939, and Lonmin up 75p at 3,234p.

What with the price of oil, oil-related movements included British Airways, who were down 2p at 209p this morning, whilst cruise ship operator was down 60p at 1,581p.

On to the bnaks, where it wasn’t a good morning. Goldman Sachs statement and downgrade of Citibank yesterday was still ringing in everyone’s ears. Barclays was down 6p at 297.5, HBOS was down 8p at 268p, and Lloyds TSB was down 1p at 306p.

Retailers were down as well, all taking note of the John Lewis statem,ent that sales have fallen 6 out of the last 7 weeks, and were down 1.2% on last year. Next was down 29p at 950p, whilst supermarkets suffered too, as Tesco was down 9.5p at 355.2p, and Sainsburys down 8p at 307p.

Plumbing merchant Wolseley was down 6p at 398p after an ABN Amro downgrade to ’sell’ from ‘hold’.

National Express Group was up 17p at 934p after saying it expects growth this year, and that its new East Coast UK rail franchise continues to see “excellent” revenue growth of 11%.  It also said that its rail punctuality was up to 90%.

The FTSE 100 closed down 147.9 points at 5,518.2, the low of the day, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 213.9 points at 9,107.3. The banks taking the hits.

Leading shares continued its fall in afternoon deals to close almost 150 points lower, dragged down by a global sell-off in the banking sector after downbeat comments from Goldman Sachs while Wall Street showed similar losses.

By the time London closed the DJI was down 232 points at 11,579.9, whilst the S&P500 was down nearly 26 points at 1,296, and the Nasdaq down nearly 59 points at 2,342. Goldman Sachs was partly to blame, it seems, as they are bieng blamed for the banks falling. They warned of further bank write downs are required and basically added that any mini revival was false. Goldmans added a sector downgrade to the sector as a whole, and picked out Citigroup as a ’sell’. You know who your mates are. Mind you, they have only confirmed what everyone already knows. It seems everyone waits for someone of some sort of respected staturs to stand up and so things how they are.

Back here in London, it was the banks that were also (not) thanking Goldman Sachs for the statement. The banks all fell back. Barclays was down 27.25p at just shy of 304p, RBS down 11.25p at 218p, HBOS down 16p at 276p, and Lloyds TSB down nearly 22p at just shy of 307p. Standard Chartered closed down 116p at 1,453 despite a decent start to the day, as investors decided that a strong first half of the year didn’t mean the 2nd half would be the same. The bank had also mentioend the now cliched ‘cautious’ outlook. One exception was Bradford & Bingley, which closed up 4.5p at 80p after Resolution confirmed the bank had said “no” to the investment vehicle checking its books, which didn’t help the planned £400m cash input, which the bank described as something it wouldn’t reccommend to shareholders”.

OIl; was up 3-bucks a barrel. Even OPEC themselves admitted that the current $140 bbl ceiling looking like breaking, with a US$150 to US$170 figure being hit in a month or two.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) closed down 123.5p at 828.5p, off 13%, bascially reversing the big jumpo yesterday, after Merrill Lynch didn’t like what happened yesterday (it seems) and decided it needed to reiterate its ‘underperform’ stance on the London Exchange and then said its target was down £1.40 to 880p. So much for the Qatari deal or tie up. We are old fashioned. The LSE shouldn’t even be listed. It should be government owned. British. No foreign investment in the greatest financial centre in the world. Still, moving on…

And ,on from this morning, British Sky Broadcasting closed down 24p at just shy of 471p after a JP Morgan downgrade to ‘underweight’ from ‘overweight’, adding a 560p target, down from 7-quid, blaming expected advertising revnues to be a lot lower under current world conditions.

Thomson Reuters closed down 80p at 1,359 after Morgan Stanley reminded everyone of its ‘underweight’ statement, and gave a lower target of 1,280p, down from 1,420, citing fundamentals and expected growth. Or lack of it.

On to the High Street, Marks & Sparks closed down nearly 12p at 338.5p after a Dresdner Kleinwort downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’, adding 360p target, down from 460p, whilst peer Next closed down 48.5p at 978.5p. Currys & PC World owner DSG International announced a drop of 30% in profits, adding a ‘cautious’ ongoing outlook, causing the stock to close down 2.5p at 42.5p.

Supermarket chain Tesco closed down 16.3p at 364.7p.

Lucky the miners and oilers were strong, or the fall would have been far worse. With the exchange weighted heavily by these stocks, the true fall was somewhat masked. Sort of. Anyway, with gold and copper doing well, so did a few of the main heavyweights, with Anglo up 18p at 3,303, Lonmin up 92p at 3,159, and Cairn Energy up 47p at 3,086.

With oil up another 3-bucks again, the oil heavyweights didn’t suffer too much. BP closed down just 3.75p at 570p amongst a sea of red, whilst RD Shell actually closed unchanged at 1,935p.

The housebuilders suffered after a Credit Suisse sector comment and some lower targets took its toll. Persimmon closed down 37p at 302p after a 270p target was called, Barratts down 4.25p at 67p after a 100p target, and Taylor Wimpey down 1.5p at 55p with a 70p target.

Moneysupermarket.com closed down 12.25p at 106.5p after a fairly ok trading statement, but just pulled down by all the negative feeling around. Even Cazenove reiterated its ‘outperform’ stance.

Good morning all

Fascinating day to be honest… Most of you taking 2 small EURUSD trades down, on breaks of the MA’s, for 20 pips each…

We then held firm waiting for the 123 setups to come into play..These never happened and interestingly reversed and the 123 plays all happened the other way. This is where the 15min chart comes into play and you mustn’t forget about the bigger picture. Short chart trading is fun and exciting but very responsive so you need to remain vigilant…

With the room closing to listen to the MPC committee, the markets decided to kick off. I am thinking we should actually head for a 7-11am window as many opportunities have come into play around this late morning. Will put it to the group later today…

Look at the 123 on EURUSD off 1.5675 to 1.5725. 50 pips

USDCHF from 1.0350 to 1.0300….50 pips

GOLD 123 from 891 to 895….40 pips

CABLE from 1.9775 to 1.9845…70 pips

USDJPY from 107.85 to 107.70… 20 pips

Look at the break of the DAX this am… Simon, Paul, Gareth etc all said they were short at 6638ish…Now at 6580…Thats over 50 pips…

The committee boys also looked at FTSE this am after the open…Thats 60 pips

Ok so i know as a novice you wont take all of these but i have had 4 guys skpe me talling me they have made over 100 pips this am. Not bad for one session and they are reasonably new to this.

Excellent work and credit to you all.

This will only bet better and better when the markets improve..This is only the start!!!

Dan

The FTSE was down about 27 points at 5,639.4 this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was down nearly 60 points at 9,262. Reaction to Wall Street’s reverse of direction yesterday played oin LOndon this morning,m it seems, and yesterday rise in the FTSE was nearly wiped out in the first hour this morning.

Over the pond, last night the DJI closed up 4.4 points at 11,811.83, which is a shame as it initially ran up 100 points after the Fed Reserve’s announcement today.  The S&P500 closed up 7.68 points at 1,321.97, whilst the Nasdaq closed up 32.98 points at 2,401.26. As we said, the Dow had responded positively at first, and was still up about 70 points by the time London closed, but reading betwen the lines the accompanying statement to the freeze in interest rates at 2% wasn’t very positive, and most saw as a varied statement.

Oil had been down and then up again, with the reserves now being reported as lower.  Oil was about US$134.50 bbl.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 7.6 points at 13,822.32, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up nearly 98 points at 22,733 by lunchtime.

Back here in London, the banks were down again, with Standard Chartered down 49p at 1,520 this morning.  The Asian concentrated bank gives a tarding update at 9:30 this morning.  Peers also fell, with Barclays down 15p at 316p despite a Morgan Stanley upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal-weight’, an HBOS was down 10p to 282p, which is close to the £4 bln 275p rights issue price.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) was down 50p at 902p, which takes away a chunk of the jump yesterday, after Merrill Lynch reiterated its ‘underperform’ stance and cut its target to 880, down from 920p. Rumours that the LSE will still do some sort of partnership deal in QWatar were also doing the rounds on the floor. The news about a the pan-European equities platform which is created by the LSE and Lehman Brothers hasn’t been taken well, either.

British Sky Broadcasting was down 17p to 478p after a JP Morgan downgrade to ‘underweight’ from ‘overweight’ with a 560p target, down from 7-quid, citing advertising revenue concerns.

The miners tried to help thsi morning, though, with metal prices smiling.  Anglo smiled too, up 44p at 3,329p, as did Vedanta, up 17p at 2,268, and Anto, up 3.5p at 656.5p. Vedanta also informed of its plans to have a Bond issue to raise US$1.25 bln, so to fund ongoing acquisitions and other business.

With oil still strong, invstors moved in the the oil heavyweights BP was up 6p at 580p, and RD Shell up 21p at 2,005.

Wellstream Holdings, the oil services company, was down 52p at 1,253p on profit taking.  The tarding statement was good, but the share price has risen three-fold in the last year, so investors felt they should bag some profits.

DSG International, who own Currys and PC World, was up 2.5p at 47.5p after reporting a 30% decline in its 12 month profit figure, adding it was “cautious” moving forward. However, as most of th wbad news seems to already be in the price, Numis thought things could only get better and upgraded DSG to ‘hold’ from ‘reduce’.